Three Ostraca from Jebel Barkal: Problems of Text and Context

The Meroitic District of Jebel Barkal, which has been the focus of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Sudan since 1973, has provided rich archaeological evidence dating to the Meroitic period, but not an equal amount of epigraphic evidence. The most famous of these is certainly the so-called Natakamani Stele, discovered and subsequently published between the 1980s and 1990s. Less attention, however, has been paid to minor Meroitic inscriptions from the site – which are more fragmentary and varied in nature – such as those found on pottery sherds. This co-authored paper will attempt to shed some light on three of these ostraca, unearthed during different excavation seasons at the same building, B2200, also known as the “Edifice of the Basins.”